More staffing and resources permanently needed to clean up our capital city – Seery Kearney

Dublin City Council must put more staffing and resources in place urgently and permanently to clean up the capital as littering and a general state of uncleanliness plagues our city centre streets, according to Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery Kearney.

Senator Seery Kearney, who represents Dublin South Central, said: “One need only walk around some of Dublin’s best known streets at any time of the day to witness dirt, stains and splash marks on the ground and overflowing bins, which are unsightly and unpleasant to say the least.

“Many Dubliners and visitors have taken to social media with picture evidence of what has become a customary sight of strewn litter and refuse bags stacked high on top of one another and toppling over on the street outside businesses.

“Dublin City Council had a budget of €1.13 billion last year and has a workforce of 5,600 people, so it doesn’t seem plausible that services including street sweeping and cleaning, litter management, provision of litter bins, and power washing of streets cannot be adequately provided.

“The council’s allocated expenditure for street cleaning services has also risen from €40 million in 2018, to €49 million last year, according to its budget reports [1].

“Dublin City Council has been blighted by staff shortages since it undertook a staff restructuring programme in 2008 following the financial collapse, but the subsequent recruitment embargo that was a significant cause of the drop in employee numbers was lifted in 2015. That is now 8 years ago, and while there has been a slight increase in staffing levels in that time, the number is still far short of the 7,200 workers that were employed for the council in 2008[2].

Our streets are busier than ever and we have vibrant visitor numbers, so it’s reasonable to think that we need additional resources directed to the upkeep and maintenance of our streets.

“Cleaning staff that are currently working do tremendous work in keeping the streets clean and maintaining services, but there are clearly not enough of them, in addition the equipment needed to clean pavements and collect litter, particularly in areas with a high footfall during the summer season.

“More litter bins should also be provided to discourage littering and to ensure people can dispose of their litter rather than having rubbish spill on to the streets. According to the Litter Management Plan for 2008 to 2011, there were around 5,000 bins in the council area but there are currently just 3,200 bins.

“Dublin City Council said this week that prolonged periods of dry weather ,  prevalence of outdoor dining and increased visitor numbers can create extra pressure on the delivery of waste management services.

“But I was pleased that the council confirmed that extra resources will be directed towards street cleaning and litter collection in the city centre after the issue was highlighted by local councillors, including my Fine Gael colleague Councillor Ray McAdam and members of the public[3].

“But this shouldn’t be a short term measure, as we need year round adequate resources are needed to keep our streets clean. Dublin is a vibrant, wonderful city, of huge cultural and historical importance and Dubliners including myself are enormously proud to call it home. We are Dublin, loud and proud, but let’s not go back to the days when the city was known as Dirty Dublin, its heritage and rich city life doesn’t deserve that.

“Dublin City Council must double down on efforts to clean up the city centre so it is in pristine condition, particularly in the summer when we have an increased number of visitors and people enjoying outdoor recreation. Members of the public must also exercise responsibility by discarding waste in the proper manner and having a city we can all be proud of.”

[1] https://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/2021-12/adopted-revenue-budget-2022.pdf

[2] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23809627-memo-to-the-lord-mayor-and-elected-members-re-council-employment-incl-area-employment-21122022

[3] https://www.businesspost.ie/article/more-street-cleaning-and-waste-collection-promised-for-dublin-city-centre-after-public-criticism/